Volvo has just taken another important step towards environmentally neutral car production, as its factory in Torslanda (Sweden) has just achieved a neutral environmental impact.
Although this is Volvo's first neutral car plant, it is the second production unit of the Swedish manufacturer to achieve this status, thus joining the engine plant in Skövde, also in Sweden.
To achieve this neutrality, the use of a new heating system and the use of electricity were essential.
According to the northern European manufacturer, this plant “has been powered by neutral electricity sources since 2008 and now also has a neutral heating system”, since half of its origin “comes from biogas, while the another half is fed through the municipal heating system obtained from waste industrial heat”.
In addition to achieving environmental neutrality, this plant also constantly seeks to reduce the amount of energy it uses. Improvements introduced in 2020 resulted in annual energy savings of almost 7000 MWh, an amount equivalent to the annual energy used by 450 family homes.
Over the next few years, the objective is to further reduce the amount of energy used, and for this purpose the lighting and heating systems will be revised, which could result in additional savings of around 20 000 MWh by 2023.
These energy savings are part of an even greater ambition of the company, which aims to reduce the use of energy per vehicle produced by 30% in 2025. And it is precisely in this year that another major goal for Volvo is defined: to make its production network environmentally neutral world.
Director of industrial operations and quality at Volvo CarsWe intend to have our global production network completely neutral by 2025 and today we are giving a sign that we are determined to achieve this and that we are working to reduce our impact on the environment.
Remember that the Swedish brand has already announced that it wants to become an environmentally neutral company in 2040.